The Daily News. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1918. THE ALLIES ON THE RHINE.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1918. THE ALLIES ON THE RHINE.

In order to realise the full mean-1 ing of the crossing of the Rhine by the Allies and their occupation of a great portion of the Rhine Province, it is necessary to understand what that river means to Germany and her people, and then some conception can be arrived at as to the deep humiliation which the Teutons are now suffering. Jt is not only the most prized, as it is the richest, jewel that has sparlded on the Prussian Crown, but it has also been an elblem of German greatness. To-day it is the outward and visible sign of a fallen monarchy, a defeated na-, tion, and tfre arrival of the day of reckoning for crimes that have cried aloud for punishment. It was over the bridges of this river, which has played such an important part of the rise and downfall of Germany, that the mignty hosts of the most arrogant, lustful and cruel tyrant set forth to conquer the world, that Kaiser Wilhelm might have the nations at his feet. Their going forth was regarded as the prelude to enslaving the world in order that one being might become the dominant power; but their return was a far different spectacle—a compulsory return of the remnant of many millions shorn of all their pride and military glory, forced to capitulate in order to avoid total destruction, not even pursued by the once despised enemy, but followed at leisure by an invading force against whom not a shot was fired while they took possession of the territory on which the greatness of Germany was founded. The "Watch on the Rhine is now kept by the Allies, who have secured the command of the roads and railways radiating to all parts oi Germany, thus being in a position to continue the invasion and to prevent the egress of Teutonic troops in case of attempted treachery. Germany's soul has been trampled under foot and her last line of defence occupied after over four years of most terrible warfare. Germany's extraordinary development since 1870 was 1 largely due to the mineral wealth both sides of the Rhine-coal, iron, steel, copper, zinc, manganese, vitriol, lime, gypsum and slate. "With these and her vast system of industries she was enabled to build up and equip colossal armies, but her strength was 1 her undoing. Instead of being the dominant power she had to sue for terms, with the result that the Allies are in a position to exercise, if circumstances render it necessary, complete military and economic control over Germany. There is a special significance in the transfer of the key of the Rhine province to the Allies, for the fortunes of Germany have varied absolutely with her hold upon the Rhine, which Napoleon made the boundary between France and Germany. To the patriotic Ten-' ton the Rhine embodied all that i was glorious in the Fatherland. ! but the glory of Germany has de-j parted and there is gnashing of teeth. The impregnable bulwark has proved of-no avail, and it is to he hoped that the bridges over which the Kaiser's hosts crossed on the way to deluge Europe with blood will never again be used by a German army on its way to conquest or defeat, for the mission of the Peace Conference is mainly to impose such terms that was- shall cease. Alsace - Lorraine now forms part of France, and should so remain for all time. The Rhiue now means to Germany no more than a waterway, yet in times long;past, before the Teutons supt the Celtic tribes, it lboiified' large in the eyes of those who., strove for its possession, it was made by the Romans a barrier against barbarism,' and litt}'6 did they dream that, in the centuries ahead, when, barbarism was considered to be but a memory, that a nation would arise possessing in a high degree the elements of civilisation, science, art and mechanical skill, would revert to a barbarism far more terrible than that which the Romans encountered, and that it would he onee more necessary for the river to become a barrier against a cultivated barbarism that had' made the nations arise against the Teutons and humble them to the dust. Once more history has repeated itself, and the presence, of the Allies on both banks of the Rhine, is a striking commentary on that repetition.